Municipality clerks attempted to impound tents from two different campsites in
northern Tel Aviv Tuesday morning, witnesses reported.
Yael Havassy, one
of the founders of the Ben-Gurion campsite said that a few municipality clerks
came by in the late morning and attempted to impound a number of the 30 or so
tents at the site.
“It’s not clear why they came,” said Havassy. “And
when we spoke to them and asked them if they had an eviction notice, they
left.”
She added that they managed to take three of the tents and told
those present that they can come pick them up from City Hall later in the
day.
Havassy said she hadn’t heard of any local residents complaining
about the campsite, and that “we welcome anyone from the neighborhood to tell us
if something bothers them, but also to come and be part of what we’re
doing.”
She said that most participants work during the day, and that
unlike Rothschild Boulevard, it’s not an ongoing festival at all hours of the
day.
At the Nordau Boulevard campsite on Tuesday, home to more than 50
tents, two municipal clerks and an outside contractor came to remove tents,
according to Ziv Keinan, a fixture at the tent city who was sitting on a couch
on Nordau on Tuesday.
“They came and said that they would remove every
tent that didn’t have anyone in it.
They didn’t have any sort of warrant
and once they saw a TV camera, they left.”
Following widespread reports
of the attempted evictions, the Tel Aviv municipality issued a statement on
Tuesday saying that “in spite of the reports, there is no intention on our
behalf to evict the protest tents throughout the city. The municipality was the
first to support the protest and allow it to take place, through allotting a
location on Rothschild Boulevard and other places in the city.
“There has
been no change in our standing that allows the protests to take place while also
preserving the public order and limiting the disturbance for the residents
living close to the campsites from whom we have received a large number of
serious complaints.”
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